A difficult and most
unwelcome task now confronts us: to contemplate and comment upon the darkest
blot of all in the fair character of David. But who are we, so full of sin
in ourselves, unworthy to unloose his shoes, to take it upon us to sit in
judgment upon the sweet Psalmist of Israel. Certainly we would not select
this subject from personal choice, for it affords us no pleasure to gaze
upon an eminent saint of God befouling himself in the mire of evil. O that
we may be enabled to approach it with true humility, in tear and trembling,
remembering that "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of
man to man." Only then may we hope to derive any profit from our
perusal; the same applies to the reader. Before proceeding further, let each
of us ask God to awe our hearts by the solemn scene which is to be before
us.

It must be for God’s
glory and our profit that the Holy Spirit has placed on record this account
of David’s fearful fall, otherwise it would not have been given a
permanent place on the imperishable pages of Holy Writ. But in order to
derive any good from it for our souls, it is surely necessary that we
approach this sad incident with a sober mind and in a spirit of meekness,
"considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted’ (Gal. 6:1). This
inspired record is to be regarded as a divine beacon, warning us of the
rocks upon which David’s life was wrecked; as a danger signal, bidding us
be on our guard, lest we, through unwatchfulness, experience a similar
calamity. Viewed thus, there are valuable lessons to be learned, instruction
which will stand us in good stead if it be humbly appropriated.

The fearful fall of
David supplies a concrete exemplification of many solemn statements of
Scripture concerning the nature and character of fallen man. Its teaching in
regard to human depravity is very pointed and unpalatable, and often has it
been made a subject of unholy jest by godless scoffers. Such declarations
as, "the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth" (Gen.
8:21), "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked" (Jer. 17:9), "in my flesh dwelleth no good thing"
(Rom. 7:18), are highly objectionable to human pride, yet the truth of
them cannot be gainsaid. Fearful and forbidding as are such descriptions of
fallen man, nevertheless their accuracy is illustrated and demonstrated
again and again in the lives of Bible characters, as well as in the world
today.

Rightly has it been
said that, "One of the most astounding demonstrations of the truth of
the Bible is its unhesitating revelation and denunciation of sin, in the
professed follower at God. It conceals nothing; on the contrary, it pulls
aside the veil and discloses all. It condones nothing; instead, it either
utters the terrible wrath of God against the guilty one, or records His
judgments as they fall upon the unhappy sinner, even to the third and fourth
generation (Ex. 34:7).

"It exalts Noah as
a preacher of righteousness in an evil and violent generation; with equal
faithfulness it records his drunkenness and shame (Gen. 9:20, 21). Abraham
is set before us as a man of faith. In the hour of famine, instead of
waiting in quietness upon God, he goes down into Egypt. Once there, he
persuades has wife to misrepresent her relationship to him, and through the
acted falsehood imperils his peace and her own (Gen. 12:12, 13). Lot falls
away after his deliverance from Sodom, and through love of wine is subjected
to the lust of his wanton daughters. Aaron and Miriam are filled with
jealousy and speak evilly against Moses, their brother. Moses speaks
unadvisedly with his lips, and is shut out from the land of promise. The
white light of truth flashes on every page, and the faults, the follies, the
sins and inexcusable iniquities of those who call themselves the people and
servants of God, are seen in all their repulsive forms" (I. M. H.).

Thus it was in the
tragic case now before us. The fearful conduct of David reveals to us with
terrible vividness that not only is the natural man a fallen and depraved
creature, but also that the redeemed and regenerated man is liable to fall
into the most heinous evil; yea, that unless God is pleased to sovereignly
interpose, unwatchfulness on the part of the believer is certain to issue in
consequences highly dishonoring to the Lord and fearfully injurious to
himself. This it is which above all else makes our present portion so
unspeakably solemn: here we behold the lusts of the flesh allowed full sway
not by a man of the world, but by a member of the household of faith; here
we behold a saint, eminent in holiness, in a unguarded moment, surprised,
seduced and led captive by the devil. The "flesh" in the believer
is no different and no better than the flesh in an unbeliever!

Yes, the sweet Psalmist
of Israel, who had enjoyed such long and close communion with God, still had
the "flesh" within him, and because he failed to mortify its
lusts, he now flung away the joys of divine fellowship, defiled his
conscience, ruined his soul’s prosperity, brought down upon himself (for
all his remaining years) a storm of calamities, and made his name and
religion a target for the arrows of sarcasm and blasphemy of each succeeding
generation. Every claim that God had upon him, every obligation of his high
office, all the fences which divine mercy had provided, were ruthlessly
trampled under foot by the fiery lust now burning in him. He who in the day
of his distress cried, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God" (Ps. 42:2) now lusted after a forbidden object. Alas, what is man?
Truly "man at his best estate is altogether vanity" (Ps. 39:5).

But how are we to
account for David’s fearful fall? Why was it that he succumbed so readily
in the presence of temptation? What was it that led up to and occasioned his
heinous sin? These questions are capable of a twofold answer, according as
we view them in the light of the high sovereignty of God or the
responsibility of man; for the present we shall consider them from the
latter viewpoint. And it is here we should derive the most practical help
for our own souls; it is in tracing the relation between God’s
chastisements and what occasions them, between men’s sins and what leads
up to them, that we discover what is most essential for us to lay to heart.
The reasons why Abraham "went down to Egypt" are revealed
in the context. Peter’s denial of Christ may be traced back to his
self-confidence in following his Master "afar off." And, we shall
see, the divine record enables us to trace David’s fall back to the
springs which occasioned it.

"And it came to
pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they
destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried
still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose
from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from
the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to
look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not
this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And
David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay
with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto
her house" (2 Sam. 11:1-4). We cannot do better than seek to fill in
the outline of Matthew Henry on these verses: first, the occasions of this
sin; second, the steps of the sin; third, the aggravations of the sin.

The occasions of or
what led up to David’s fearful fall are plainly intimated in the above
verses. We begin by noticing the rime mark here mentioned: "And it came
to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to
battle" (v. 1), which signifies, at the season of spring, after the
winter is over. Following the period of enforced inactivity, upon the return
of favorable weather, the military activities against the Ammonites were
resumed: Joab and the army went forth, "But David tarried still at
Jerusalem." Ominous "But," noting the Spirit’s disapproval
at the king’s conduct. Here is the first key which explains what follows,
and we do well to weigh it attentively, for it is recorded "for our learning"
and warning Reduced to its simplest terms, that which is here signified is David’s failure to follow the path of duty.

It is obvious that at
this time the king’s place—his accustomed one hitherto (see 10:17)—was
at the head of his fighting men, leading them to the overthrow of Israel’s
enemies. Had he been out fighting the battles of the Lord, he had not been
subject to the temptation which soon confronted him. It may appear a
trifling matter in our eyes that the king should tarry at Jerusalem: if so,
it shows we sadly fail to view things in their proper perspective—it is
never a trifling matter to forsake the post of obligation, be that
post the most menial one. The fact is that we cannot count upon divine
protection when we forsake the path of duty. That was the force of
our Saviours reply when the devil bade Him cast Himself down from the
pinnacle of the temple; that pinnacle lay not in the path of His duty, hence
His "thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

David relaxed when he
should have girded on the sword: he preferred the luxuries of the palace to
the hardships of the battlefield. Ah, it is so easy to follow the line of
least resistance. It requires grace (diligently sought) to "endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 2:3). Alas that
David had failed to profit from a previous failure along this same line:
when he had sought rest among the Philistines at an earlier date, he
fell readily into sin (1 Sam. 21:13); so it was now, when he sought ease in
Jerusalem. The important principle here for the Christian to lay to heart
is, David had taken off his armor, and therefore he was without
protection when the enemy assailed him. Ah, my reader, this world is no
place to rest in; rather is it the arena where faith has to wage its fight,
and that fight is certain to be a losing one if we disregard that
exhortation "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil" (Eph. 6:11).

"And it came to
pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon
the roof of the king’s house." Here is the second thing for us to
observe: not only had David shunned the post of duty, but he was guilty of slothfulness.
It was not the slumbers of nighttime which the Spirit here takes notice
of, for it was eveningtide when he "arose"—it was the afternoon
which he had wasted in self-luxuriation. David had failed to redeem the
time: he was not engaged either in seeking to be of use to others, or in
improving himself. Laziness gives great advantage to the tempter: it was
"while men slept" that the enemy came and sowed tares among the
wheat" (Matthew 13:29). It is written, "The hand of the diligent
shall bear rule (in measure, over his lusts): but the slothful shall be under
tribute" (Prov. 12:24).

What a word is this:
"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the
man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with
thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof
was broken down" (Prov. 24:30, 31). Does not the reader perceive the spiritual
meaning of this: the "field" is his life, open before all; the
vineyard" (private property) is his heart. And what a state they are
in: through idle neglect, filled with that which is obnoxious to God and
worthless to men. "Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon
it, and received instruction" (v. 32). Do we? Do we lay it to
heart and profit therefrom when we behold so many wrecked and fruitless
lives around us—ruined by spiritual indolence. "Yet a little
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep; So shall
thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man"
(vv. 33, 34)—are not those verses a solemn commentary on 2 Samuel 11:2!

"And from the roof
he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look
upon." Here is the third thing: a wandering eye. In Isaiah 33:15
and 16 we are told concerning the one that "shutteth his eyes from
seeing evil, he shall dwell on the heights, his place of defence shall be
the munitions of rocks." Alas, this is what David did not do: instead,
he suffered his eyes to dwell upon an alluring but prohibited object. Among
his prayers was this petition, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity" (Ps. 119:37), but we cannot expect God to answer us if we
deliberately spy upon the privacy of others. We turn now to consider the
actual steps in this fall.

"And David sent
and enquired after the woman." He purposed now to satisfy his lust. He
who had once boasted "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect
way. O when wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with
a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate
the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart
shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person" (Ps.
101:2-4), now determined to commit adultery. Note the repeated "I
will" in the above passage, and learn therefrom how much the
"will" of man is worth!

"And David sent
and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the
daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Here was calm
deliberation and premeditation on the part of David. Here too was a merciful
interposition on the part of God, for one of the kings servants dared to
remind his royal master that the woman he was inquiring about was the wife
of another. How often does the Lord in his grace and faithfulness place
some obstacle across our path, when we are planning something which is evil
in His sight! It is this which renders our sin far worse, when we defiantly
break through any hedge which the providence of God places about us. O that
we may draw back with a shudder when such obstacles confront us, and not
rush blindly like an ox to the slaughter.

"And David sent
messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with
her." The order is very solemn: first "he saw" (v. 2), then
he "sent and inquired" (v. 3), and now "he lay with
her." Yet that does not give us the complete picture: we need to go
back to verse 1 in order to take in the entire scene, and as we do so, we
obtain a vivid and solemn illustration of what is declared in James 1:14,
15. First, David was "drawn away of his lust"—of fleshly ease
and indolence; second, he was then "enticed"—by the sight of a
beautiful woman; third, "then when lust had conceived it brought forth
sin"—that of premeditated adultery; and, as the terrible sequel
shows, "sin when it was finished brought forth death"—the
murder of Uriah her husband.

The aggravations of
his sin were marked and many. First, David was no longer a hot-blooded
youth, but a man some fifty years of age. Second, he was not a single man,
but one who already had several wives of his own—this is emphasized in
chapter 12:8, when God sent the prophet to charge him with his wickedness.
Third, he had sons who had almost reached the age of manhood: what a fearful
example for a father to set before them! Fourth, he was the king of Israel,
and therefore under binding obligation to set before his subjects a pattern
of righteousness. Fifth, Uriah, the man whom he so grievously wronged, was
even then hazarding his life in the king’s service. And above all, he was
a child of God, and as such, under bonds to honor and glorify His name.